Billions & Billions (thing)

A phrase often associated with noted astronomer and science writer, Carl Sagan.

One of the things that got the phrase "billions and billions" associated with Carl Sagan (other than his book by that name) is the interesting vocal inflections he placed upon the B's and S's when saying it (he said it quite often of many topics). He placed an emphasis on the B in Billions with a slight nasal inflection and an open (but accentuated), loose cheeked release. The S's in Billions were pronounced like soft Z's.

These interesting pronounciations were not limited to the word Billions, however, as Sagan seemed to have a similar tendency with other words beginning with closed mouth letters and ending with the letter "s".

An excellent example of Mr. Sagan's vocal patterns (as well as some excellent scientific, historical, and astronomical observations) can be found in the 1980 PBS series entitled "Cosmos", which is available as a VHS set.